What came in the mail today?

[Mark J]

Looks like a fun toy for the lake.

[Tom King]

I'm not real big on kayaks but Pam and her Sister and friends enjoy them a lot.  It came with an extra paddle.  When I took it all out of the truck tonight, I was surprised to see that the extra paddle had a carbon fiber shaft.  I looked it up online and it's a $376 paddle.    Seems strange that they would sell it all so cheap, but I said thank you very much.

It also came with some fancy fishing rod holders.  I told him no one here would use them, so he was welcome to keep all that stuff.  His Wife said they could just put it with the yard sale stuff.  I think I might go back to their yard sale just to see what else they're getting rid of.

It was not a real fancy lake house they were living in, but it was all kept up perfectly.  They were out working in the yard when I got there.

[legenddc]

Just picked up a set of Collins Tool miter clamps from eBay. The seller happened to live 25 minutes away from my house and a mile away from where I bring my daughter to dance twice a week. 
 

Also had a Wen live center cone finally arrive yesterday. 

[Von]

The wife and I spent a couple of days in Cincinnati and we made it down to Lost Art Press, who now have a commercial store front open a few days a week and staffed by none other than Megan Fitzpatrick. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they carry not only their books and tools, but also tools that Chris and Megan either bought to review or used themselves. Prices on the used tools were reasonable - some were labeled and others Megan seemed to pull out of the air. I picked up a couple books, a plane stop, a dovetail angle doohickey, and, in the "I'm not worthy" category, Megan's old holdfast.

[legenddc]

Requested a Blum catalog and received a whole 3 ring binder of everything they offer. My order of Blum hinges and drawer slides should be here Tuesday. 

[Von]

Picked up this used plough plane a while ago and had a couple hours yesterday to get it cleaned up and the blade sharpened. I have no idea how much I'll use it but I found it a neat tool and gave into my Tool Acquisition Disorder. Clean up was getting a layer of rust/crud off of the metal, sharpening the blade and a light coat of paste wax all around. The wood was all in good shape except for a few nicks on the threads. Based on some YT advice, I avoided my inclinations and didn't take the skate or other metal parts (besides the depth stop) off to avoid the risk of striping screw heads and holes.

[Tom King]

I like ones with the metal skates best.  They work many times better than using a combination plane for grooves.  I have one that started life as a 1/4".  I narrowed the blade to fit 1/4" plywood drawer bottoms, and if making just a few drawers it's faster to grab that than set up a router.

[Von]

Joined the red aluminum club. I wanted a bigger square I trusted for my track saw and other big plywood break downs. I ordered this a while ago on one of the daily sales and it took them a while to catch up. Now I just have to figure out where to store it.

 

[Von]

On 5/5/2025 at 8:40 AM, Von said:

Picked up this used plough plane a while ago and had a couple hours yesterday to get it cleaned up and the blade sharpened.

Found a set of irons on Etsy (I've learned to look there as well as ebay for reasonable prices on used stuff).

[legenddc]

My dad printed out a track saw guide square for his Kreg track saw and dropped it off today. Haven’t made a cut with it yet but it appears to line up 90* to the edge of the plywood. 

[JohnG]

[Mark J]

Wow, that's a lot of wood.  All for one project?

[JohnG]

Two morris chairs. Cherry 8/4 and 5/4.

[legenddc]

Had some screws come in Friday from CS Hardware. Yesterday a new dust mask (respirator and filters). My old one has started to leak around my nose.

[gee-dub]

Beverage cooler and sink faucet for the kitchen remodel.  Expecting the sink, range hood, pot filler, and pulls in a couple of days.

[Mark J]

A couple of Bessey F-clamps from homedepot.com.

I wanted a couple clamps with a very deep throat.  These otherwise looked like ordinary F-clamps, but of course, nothing is ever on the shelves so you can look at it.  These things turn out to be huge and heavy.

Much heavier duty than I need for my task, but I haven't come across anything else.

The miter guage on my bandsaw has a little "hesitancy" when passing the front edge of the table and when passing over the table split.  So when I have a very large block to cut I prefer to have the miter guage behind the wood.  So I've been looking for a clamp big enough to reach over the block and hold it to the miter guage.

At first I thought I'd return it, but now I think I'll keep it.

[gee-dub]

I enjoy having a few deep-reach clamps in the racks.  I have bowed cauls and so forth but every now and then it is nice to just reach back to that spot and apply pressure.

As to what came in the mail . . . just more parts for the current kitchen remodel.  I think I finally have all the pulls, faucets, sinks, etc.

[Von]

Found a dovetail marker at Habitat Restore today, which is unusual and they were having a 50% off sale today, so I impulse bought it. The very faint stamp on it identifies it as "Richard Kell" brand, which a web search tells me is still made today, though this seems to be an older version.

 

[legenddc]

Hasn’t come in yet but I ordered a Bevercraft wood carving kit after seeing Nicole post it on the WoodWhisperer Instagram account. It’s on sale and comes with an extra wood kit. Should give me something to do in 2 weeks when we’re on vacation if I need some alone time from my wife’s extended family. 
 

https://www.amazon.com/BeaverCraft-Beginners-Wood-Carving-Whittling/dp/B0829225Y1/ 

[Von]

You can use my name for your company if you send me a sticker :-)

More seriously, this is from https://www.vonindustrial.com/ whose owner was nice enough to send me one. They make reproduction information plates/artwork for old machines and I saw their work and the sticker on Keith Rucker's YT channel.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

That's pretty sweet, @Von !!!

 

[Von]

Completed my set of DMT sharpening stones (XX-Coarse through XX-Fine). Honestly, I thought the whole set was going to be overkill and I was just succumbing to complete set acquisition disorder, but having used them on a couple blades that needed a lot of work, sharpening flows really nicely through the set, with each stone seeming to pick up perfectly from the last and working quickly. I did discover a while ago it's worth using Windex instead of water to avoid surface rust. Jury is still out on the magnetic base - it does hold the stones nicely, but then slides itself. It does raise the stone to a nice height.

[Von]

My submission for the "I didn't think this through purchase" award: I bought the a big chamger router bit so I could cut miters on thicker boards (my current chamfer bit gets me to 1/2" maybe). I didn't realize how big this bit was. Obviously I need a plate with a bigger opening. And then it dawned on me I need a router in my table that has adjustable speed. And if I'm going to spend that money maybe I should just consider getting a router lift... damn expensive bit considering it was on sale!

Unrelated to the bit, I found this Jaw Stand on craigslist for impulse buy money. I've had my eye out for one since someone on this forum, gee-dub I think, mentioned how solid and versatile they were - one can put rollers in them. Compared to my current roller stands, this thing is a rock, so it will just cost me a new project of making a roller to go into it.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 7/17/2025 at 6:37 PM, Von said:

And then it dawned on me I need a router in my table that has adjustable speed. And if I'm going to spend that money maybe I should just consider getting a router lift..

@Von just some food for thought, but the only time i ever touch the speed on my router is for large diameter raised panel bits - they need a slower speed. For everything else, i leave it cranked all the way up. 

But a lift is a worthy investment. I still have Rocklers first lift in my router table, which has to be around 20 years old and it still works great. 

[Von]

On 7/17/2025 at 9:27 PM, Ron Swanson Jr. said:

@Von just some food for thought, but the only time i ever touch the speed on my router is for large diameter raised panel bits - they need a slower speed. For everything else, i leave it cranked all the way up. 

This bit is 2.5" in diameter (I should have said that - looking back at my photo, it doesn't do it justice). It seems like a lot of metal to be spinning at 24k rpm. I found a number of articles (e.g.) telling me I should slow my router down for anything over 1" D.